


not just existence

by fictorium



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Dating, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, F/F, Fluff, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-24
Updated: 2019-12-24
Packaged: 2021-02-26 06:35:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,079
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21939076
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fictorium/pseuds/fictorium
Summary: Alex and Astra have been dancing around this spark of attraction for a while now... Astra is building a new life, can Alex make herself part of it?
Relationships: Astra/Alex Danvers
Comments: 13
Kudos: 157
Collections: Super Santa Femslash 2019





	not just existence

**Author's Note:**

  * For [littlelamplight](https://archiveofourown.org/users/littlelamplight/gifts).



Alex was aware that she had a tough job. It required secrecy, scientific expertise, combat skills, and diplomacy skills to know when to solve a situation with talking or with ass kicking. She had taken a few big hits, more than a few big bruises, and somewhere along the way in being a government agent mostly to protect her alien sister, Alex had also picked up a few new people who were almost as important to her.

One thing she didn’t have anymore was any kind of hobby. She grew up surfing and stargazing, riding her bike and joining any team that would take her. At least until Kara came along. Then Alex had to skip volleyball to make sure her sister didn’t get distracted and fly after some birds. 

But she wasn’t bitter about it. 

Especially since Alex had a whole new Kryptonian to worry about. Kara had been a goddamned picnic in comparison to Astra. Where Kara had been led by curiosity and compassion, Astra sought to understand Earth through the very worst of its customs and people. Sometimes, Alex still had nightmares about that night on the roof, that she’d used that kryptonite sword and made the worst possible mistake. Luckily, she had left it in the armory, and Astra had come in that night by surrendering herself to DEO custody.

Only when Non was defeated and Myriad flown off-planet had their little chats turned into something more… interesting. By the time Astra had earned her pardon from President Marsdin, Alex had realised that she and Astra had more than a love of throat-punching enemies and powerful engines in common. 

What to do about it though? Alex would have been the first to admit that she did not have what might be called game on that front. Hiding her feelings from Kara had been a nightmare, until Kara found a distraction of her own in the form of Cat Grant, surely a disaster waiting to happen as far as Alex was concerned. 

Still. At least Kara was actually dating the woman she had a visible-from-space crush on. So far all Alex had managed was to help Astra find an apartment in a slightly rough neighborhood, and kitting out the spare bedroom with red sun lamps so Astra could get respite from her powers sometimes. Unlike Kara, she had never been comfortable with the extra abilities Earth gave her, even though Astra wielded them with complete effectiveness in her role as a sort of freelance bounty hunter for the DEO. 

In desperation, Alex had turned to Lucy for advice. The good Major had been only too happy to seize on a chance to interfere in Alex’s love life, even as she bemoaned that Alex was trying to take the most attractive alien off the market. Her advice for Alex had focused on one essential thing: do something together. Preferably the kind of crap couples did, all the better to set up the right sort of environment for properly asking Astra on a date. Two heated make out sessions and a lot of arguments didn’t count as a relationship, no matter how hard Alex pretended that they did. 

So. That was how Alex came to be spending a rare free Friday evening in a motherfucking pottery studio, of all places. The place was too hot, for a start. Something to do with the giant oven in one corner of the warehouse-style space. Then there were the other people, a bunch of giggling girls and their mostly-reluctant dates. Alex didn’t have any interest in getting to know any of them, but she did give a pass to the one guy who brought in a couple of six packs from his car while they waited for the instructor. 

Astra was the last student to arrive. She hadn’t quite gotten out of the habit of dressing all in black, although she now opted to raid thrift stores and military surplus sales. Her tight black jeans looked perfect with the khaki tanktop that she partly covered with a dark grey Army button down shirt, a little too big for her and worn open like a jacket. Her boots were pretty much identical to Alex’s standard issue work ones, but there was a glint of an extra buckle or two at the ankles. 

These days, Astra mostly wore her hair tied up, making the white streak that bit less noticeable. To see it down again, the streak lit up by the orange lighting of the kilns and the industrial strip lights overhead, Alex felt the same pang as she had during their first meetings. 

“Alex.” Astra still had that economy with words. Two syllables covered her greeting, acknowledgment, and absolutely no explanation for being almost five minutes late. 

“Hey, Astra. Thanks for coming to this. I just wanted to try something new, and you said you wanted to try something with your hands other than fighting, so…”

“Yes. You explained on the phone.” They’re interrupted by the arrival of Karla, their instructor for the evening. Alex was expecting some hippy dippy artists, but Karla is a real no nonsense broad, old enough to be any of their mother’s, and just as quick to dish out some praise or a big dollop of criticism.

After the explainer, each pair had to collect a tray of materials. Alex wondered if it had been sneaky to book something that paired off, but Lucy insisted that there was no point in doing things solo - what if someone else muscled in on Astra? The very thought had been enough to send Alex into a jealous spiral. 

“Have you done this before?” Astra asked as Alex began to prepare her clay and the jug of water, setting everything out as the instructor had shown them. 

“No.”

“But you got it exactly right. Like that woman.” Astra gave a dismissive nod in Karla’s direction. 

“Oh, I guess I’ve always been a teacher’s pet,” Alex confessed with a blush. “I’m used to following instructions. I used to set up the lab experiments in school.”

Astra considered her for a long moment, that questioning gaze of hers as scouring as ever. 

“I believe that is a good quality. Will you go first? I expect to learn from your mistakes.”

Well, Alex hadn’t asked her out to get a ringing vote of confidence. That one was on her. 

Karla set up at her little station, working the clay as she explained to them the basic techniques they would attempt. Alex tried to play it cool, but she’d never been able to ignore a teacher. By the time she sat at the potter’s wheel, she felt reasonably confident she could work the clay into something. Time for Kara to accept there was more than one artist in the family.

Two minutes later, Alex’s clay was on the floor and Astra was doubled over, shaking with silent laughter.

“You know, it’s rude to mock people. Especially the person who invited you in the first place,” Alex said. 

“Do you hate your clay?” Astra asked, still trying to get herself under control. “Did it offend you in some way, Agent Alex?”

“I’d like to see you do any better,” Alex replied, her pride dented. Astra had never shown any inclination toward art, so maybe there was a fighting chance. Really, Alex should have known better than to throw down the gauntlet. She wiped at her hands with the cloth provided, but streaks of clay persisted. It felt quite nice, for the short time she’d got to handle it.

“On Krypton,” Astra said, her voice soft to make sure they weren’t overheard. Her glare had already scared off Karla and the nearest couple - beer guy and his wife. Judging by the loud criticism from their station, Alex suspected she knew why he’d brought the drinks. “We had an art form similar to this. In fact, it was when the blue soil we used started to crumble that we realized the planet was truly dying.”

Alex swallowed an apology. Had she inadvertently brought Astra to another reminder of her lost home? 

“I didn’t realize,” Alex said, but Astra reached out to pat her hand, both of them already smeared with clay. 

“It was a happy memory. Now watch and learn.”

Astra started well, but with her powers it was almost impossible to modify the old skills she had to her current strength. Alex tried not to laugh as the wheel spun too fast, or a gentle touch to the side of the growing column of wet clay collapsed it. Astra growled quietly in frustration, blowing a few errant curls that fell across her face. 

“Not so easy after all,” Alex settled on saying, enjoying the playful nudge that Astra gave with her elbow. It said something about how far gone Alex was that even the slightest touch thrilled her, in any context. 

“No.” Astra gave a little huff of annoyance, before settling on a new idea. She pushed her stool back, leaving space between her and the wheel. “Here,” she said, pulling the second stool into the gap. “Sit.”

“Oh no, none of that please! There will be no scenes from Ghost in my class!” Karla said, starting to approach. The combined glares from Alex and Astra sent her scurrying back. 

“Okay,” Alex said, taking her seat at the potter’s wheel. Right away she felt Astra pressing against her back, the subtle swell of her breasts through the tank top she wore and Alex’s own faded Barenaked Ladies tee. “Think you can make an artist out of me, General?”

“I think I can make anything I like with you, Alexandra.”

“You do, huh?”

“Isn’t that why you finally found that bravery of yours and asked me here tonight? I might not be of this planet, but I recognize a couples activity when I see one. I think you’d like to get your hands...” Astra placed her hands over Alex’s as they sat on the fresh mound of clay. “On more than just this art, hmm?”

“Would… would that be a problem? If I wanted to do that? With my hands?” Alex blamed the heat of the room but there was no denying the pink color of her cheeks. Astra leaned back for a moment, shrugging off her shirt and letting it drop to the floor. In just the tank top her bare arms pressed against the outside of Alex’s, their hands once more working together and kneading the clay.

“Does it seem like a problem?” Astra murmured against her ear. “If you had waited much longer, I would have asked you myself.”

“Yeah?” Alex warmed at the thought.

“Yes, I had even done some research. I would have proposed axe throwing. There is a place near my apartment.”

Alex wriggled a little on her seat, and Astra wrapped her arms tighter. Beneath their combined fingers, the outline of a vase began to take shape. 

“That sounds like a second date to me,” she said, and Astra rewarded her with a soft kiss pressed to the side of Alex’s neck. She hit the most sensitive spot, more sensitive than Alex even remembered, with unerring precision. It took all of Alex’s willpower, and the small fact of their audience, not to melt into Astra’s arms completely. 

Leaning, Alex turned just enough to be able to kiss Astra on the mouth. Their lips met, and just like before, the kiss seemed to shake something loose in Alex. She finally understood why movies made such a big damn deal over it. If she could have, she would have spent hours just like that, kissing Astra over and over and over again.

Then even Karla had had enough. She cleared her throat from somewhere nearby, causing them both to jump.

“Want to get out of here?” Astra asked. “We can take your motorcycle. I believe you promised me that experience.” The fact that she flew there was left unspoken between them. 

“Yeah, come on,” Alex said, their clay flattened and forgotten on the wheel. She grabbed her jacket and Astra’s discarded shirt, leading her by the hand toward the exit. They hadn’t even stopped to clean off the clay.

“Whoo! Get yours, ladies!” Beer guy called after them. 

“We will,” Astra replied over her shoulder, and Alex felt that particular pleasant shiver down her spine.

It turned out dating wasn’t really all that hard, if she was doing it with the right woman. 


End file.
